


Experiencing Sunlight

by Anonymous



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Divergence, Deaf!AU, Fluff, M/M, Model!AU, florist!AU, it's very cute just trust me, oikawa is the model suga is the florist and also deaf! as per request~
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:49:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29412921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Oikawa, a model from the city, moves to a small town and runs into the local, and deaf, florist, Sugawara, and from the first meeting, Oikawa becomes enamored.
Relationships: Oikawa Tooru/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 1
Kudos: 51
Collections: OiSuga Valentines Exchange 2021





	Experiencing Sunlight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Shinnkd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinnkd/gifts).



The afternoon glow of the sun painted the outskirts of the city in a warm orange light, the hum of traffic from both vehicles and pedestrians filling the air with a nice ambiance as Oikawa walked down the sidewalk, one hand in his coat pocket and the other on his phone.

“I’m telling you, this town’s going to be a great place to work out of! It’s got a ton of specialty craft stores for being so rural, which will help with some of the themes for upcoming shoots, _and_ if we really need to go back to Tokyo, it’s a pretty short ride via train. And to think you were against it~” he teased, only to be met with a large sigh on the other end of the line.

“I never said I didn’t like the location,” the voice said, paper crumpling softly in the background. “It’s a very nice place, and the studio space is great, it’s just that now that we’ve moved away from the city, we’ll need to find people to fill the vacant spots in our team.”

Oikawa hummed in response, pausing at a crosswalk with an older lady as he looked up to the sky. “I don’t suppose you know anyone in town do you?” He heard his agent curse under his breath and he couldn’t help but laugh in response. “I’m joking, joking. I’ll do my part in helping you to find people to work with here.”

“Wait, really?” And his agent sounded so _hopeful_ , and Oikawa _almost_ scoffed at the response, but he managed to turn it into a well mannered chuckle instead. _Nice save._

He blindly followed the lady next to him when she started to walk forward, waving a hand in the air as he talked. “Of course! You’ve helped me out a lot recently, especially with moving into my apartment yesterday, so I don’t mind-” and as he made it to the other side of the road, his brain seemed to finally register what was in front of him. The nicest, largest, most beautiful wall of flowers he’d ever seen outside of professional photo shoots stood right in front of him. He blinked quickly, shaking his head as he hastily finished his sentence, “-uh, helping from time to time. Just send me a list of who I need to find and I’ll get on it, okay? Talk to you later!” And he hung up hastily, his agent’s voice getting cut off abruptly as he turned to assess the flowers again.

Now, he was no flower expert by any means, but he knew when things were worthy of praise. Not only that, he knew when things would look good on his social media. Oikawa flipped out a comb from inside his coat, quickly checked his appearance in one of the windows near the flower wall, and then opened up his camera app to take a few photos… or, well, he was, when someone tapped him on the shoulder and started signing to him something. He could only _assume_ it was sign language at least, but either way, he could only look dumbly on at this remarkably cute guy for a while before said cute guy seemed to understand that he had _no idea_ what was going on. They held out a finger before digging around in their apron pocket, before pulling out a notepad and flipping it open and writing something out on it. 

_“Sorry for the intrusion, but it’s time for these flowers to be watered.”_

“Oh, I’m uh- no, I’m sorry.” Oikawa barely stuttered out, and then as if that wasn’t enough to embarrass a man, his agent called him back right then and there, so, startled as he was, he also fumbled to silence his phone before awkwardly bowing his head. The employee gave a soft chuckle at that, hand coming up to cover his mouth to try to hide it, but ultimately failing to do so as he reached for his notepad again.

_“Don’t worry about it. I can take your picture for you afterwards if you’d like?”_

Oikawa shakes his head a bit too hard at that, fighting his brain and mouth to work in conjunction to make words as blush creeped up. “No, that’s fine, I wouldn’t want to get wet anyways. I’ll just come back another time.” The employee’s smile widened at that, and oh gosh, Oikawa just realized that there was a small beauty mark below their left eye and he felt the sudden urge to take a picture of the cute boy in front of him instead of the flowers now.

A business card in front of his face finally averted his gaze, and the model could feel the blush rush to his cheeks as he went to read it. His eyes immediately went to the small name in italics printed near the bottom: Sugawara Koushi, florist, followed by a flower emoji. _Cute._ He looked up in time to see Sugawara turn around his notepad.

_“Next time you come by, make sure to buy something, okay?”_

Oikawa nodded his head once before finding his words again, a squeaked out “of course,” making the other beam brilliantly. He could feel his phone vibrating in his hand again, and he saw his agent’s name flash on the screen.

“Ah, I gotta go, but I’ll see you some other time, okay?” The other nodded, waving goodbye as he turned to leave, Oikawa mimicking the gesture before rounding the corner in a hurry. He could barely pay attention to his agent, his thoughts occupied by the cute florist despite his wishes for the rest of the night.

* * *

Oikawa yawned, his breath coming out in a little cloud in the cool morning air. He certainly hadn’t expected to have an early morning meeting only two days after moving in, but he supposed that it was inevitable given all the work they needed to do. Letting out another yawn, he squinted into the sunlight filtering it’s way through the buildings and wondered if it was still possible to somehow make up an excuse to get some more sleep. Hmm, probably not. As much as he adored sleeping, he knew to not make his agent upset this early in the morning. 

Hearing a small chime to his right, he turned to see that the same employee from yesterday, Sugawara, had come out of the flower shop with a watering can and had begun drizzling its content over the plants outside. Oikawa certainly hadn’t expected to run into the other so soon, but he wasn’t going to complain now. He called out to him, expecting for the other to turn around and give him one of those dazzling smiles… but that didn’t happen. Well… perhaps he had earphones in? Yes, that might be it! Surely after their friendly exchange yesterday, Sugawara wouldn’t have any reason to just... ignore him completely… would he?

Determined to find out, he made his way over to the florist, who was busy humming and watering his flowers. Oikawa leaned over and saw an earphone in one of his ears and couldn’t help but exhale a sigh of relief. Sugawara, as distracted as he was, didn’t notice Oikawa at all as he moved steadily from one plant to the other, giving Oikawa the opportunity to study him as he waited… his agent could deal with him being a minute or two late.

Sugawara’s pale hair, which had looked a bit like a pale blonde, was more obviously silver to him now, which made his dark eyes even more striking against his complexion, which had been slightly tanned by the sun. Barely visible freckles sprinkled across the bridge of his nose, complimenting the reflected sunlight on his face nicely as he finished with the last flower, standing back a bit to admire his work. It must’ve been then that Sugawara finally noticed him, because the other made a surprised squawk, not too unlike the one he himself had made the day prior, and quickly went to turn off his earphones.

“Morning!” Oikawa chirped, hand raising in greeting, “didn’t want to disturb you with your tasks, you seemed so focused and all listening to your music.” Sugawara tilted his head at that, quietly echoing back the word.

“Music?”

Oikawa blinked at that, nodding slowly. He had thought he was mute given the way the florist was the day before. Maybe it was only selective? “Yeah, you’ve got earphones in right?” He tapped his ears in indication to what he meant, and it took a while for Sugawara to process, but eventually he gave out a small laugh, leaving Oikawa confused and dazzled by how cute a person could possibly be this early in the morning.. 

“Oh, no, these aren’t earphones, they’re hearing aids.” He said, signing along with the words as he said them aloud. “They’re not very comfortable, so I don’t usually wear them, but since I figured you’d drop by again soon, I thought I’d break them back out so I wouldn’t have to read your lips the entire time.” He laughed again after that, maybe in good nature, but probably in response to the heat that rushed up to Oikawa’s face, not only from his horrid misinterpretation, but also at the realization that this very cute guy had been staring at his lips _the entire time they had been talking yesterday._ To say he was mortified would be an understatement. Even if he _was_ a model, he wasn’t used to _that_ level of attention. 

Said model covered up his embarrassment as best as he could, coughing into his hand once to try to clear his throat. “I’m sorry, you shouldn’t have to do that for me.” Oikawa didn’t know what he wanted to say, or even if an apology was necessary, but it wasn’t that. Thankfully, Sugawara was either too kind to care or simply unaffected by what he had said, waving his hand to dismiss what he had said.

“I don’t mind doing so every once in a while, especially since I mainly did it for selfish reasons.” 

Before he could question what that was supposed to mean, Oikawa felt his phone buzz in his pocket, letting him know the meeting report time was soon. Looking down at his phone with a frown, Oikawa sighed loudly, pushing his hair off his face in what he knew to be a dramatic and shot-worthy motion. “Sorry Sugawara-san, but I really gotta get going to work.”

“Oh, that’s okay.” The florist responded, though he did sound a bit disheartened compared to earlier. “Well, before you go, you should take some of these.” Sugawara dipped down to grab a small pot beside him filled with some budding peonies, and handed them over carefully. “I figured that since you’re new in town, that it’d help brighten up the office you might work in.”

“Not as much as you would.” He found himself saying too late, only for Sugawara to blush a nice tint the same color as the flowers he was holding, his eyes going wide. Oikawa averted his gaze with a nervous laugh, hoping the florist wouldn’t take it too seriously, but also, maybe just a little bit? Or was that too hopeful to think? His brain helpfully supplied another conversation point, but it was a risky path to pursue… but also, when had he ever backed down from a challenge?

Drawing himself up to stand a bit taller, he pushed on. “You are right though, I did just move in a few days ago, and I’m sure these flowers would look lovely on my desk, so thank you!” Sugawara seemed to recover with the change of topic, unaware of what Oikawa was planning, giving a hearty ‘your welcome,’ in turn as a kind smile graced his features once more “There is just one thing I haven’t figured out yet though,” he continued, pondering aloud, causing the florist to tilt their head curiously.

“I haven’t heard of any good lunch spots around here quite yet, and was wondering if you’d be willing to show me one? Say… during your lunch break?” Oikawa asked in the most charming way he could think of, hoping that the cheesiness of the line wouldn’t break the sincerity behind the offer. Sugawara’s face lit up in a shade of pink again, this time, the blush reaching the tips of his ears as he fumbled some signs, voice barely making any noise, until he seemed to give up and fish out his notepad from the day before.

_“Not today, but I’d love to meet you for lunch sometime this week. I can text you the address, but I’d need your phone number for that…”_

Oikawa huffed amusedly, and grabbed a pen from his back pocket, quickly scribbling down his name and number on his notepad. When Oikawa finished, he turned to start heading towards the studio space, one hand waving over his shoulder, the other cradling the pot of flowers. “I’ll see you then Sugawara-san!”

And while it was probably his imagination, he swore he heard the florist say his name back as the sun broke the building line, flooding the streets with its light

* * *

“What is it now?”

“Hmm?” Oikawa looked up from the papers he’d been reading through to be met with his agent looking quite agitated. “What do you mean Iwa-chan?” Iwaizumi frowned at that, probably thinking he was feigning innocence, and while Oikawa usually _loved_ teasing his friend and agent, he was genuinely confused this time around. “No really, you’ll have to elaborate.” His friend sighed.

“You’ve been humming non-stop since you’ve come in this morning. So, what’s up? What happened?”

Oikawa couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face at that. “Well, remember how I texted you about that florist I ran into yesterday?”

“The one with the ‘starlight’ hair and ‘enamoring’ eyes?” Iwaizumi teased as Oikawa felt his blush return as he puckered his lips in annoyance. His friend rolled his eyes good naturedly and nudged him in the side to get him to continue. “Well? What about him?”

“He, uh, well, I found he’s not mute, he’s deaf.” He started out, watching for his friend’s reaction.

“Oh?” Iwaizumi sounded, eyebrow arching slightly as he leaned on the wall next to him. “And how’d you figure that out?”

“Cause he talked to me, dummy.” Oikawa pouted, turning back to his papers to try to at least finish the page he was on, “And I mean, he was also wearing hearing aids which _I did not_ mistake for earphones, so there’s that too I suppose.” He mumbled the last part as a kind of afterthought, because as much as he didn’t want to admit he had messed up, he had, and he couldn’t lie to his best friend. Regardless of the mumbling though, Iwaizumi heard what he has said.

Said best friend, of course, laughed at that. “Oh wow, how did that go over?”

“Well, enough for him to agree to exchange numbers and go to lunch with me this week.” He retorted proudly, setting the report down again as, obviously, it wasn’t getting done right now. “And I’ll also have you know he said he’s taking me to his favorite curry place.”

Iwaizumi blinked at him a few times before shaking his head amusedly. “Well, I’m just glad you’re making friends: though I don’t suppose they could help us out here at the studio could they?” Oikawa rolled his eyes with an amused huff, whacking at his arm lightly.

“I don’t know, maybe _you_ should exchange numbers with him and ask yourself?”

“Are you sure you wouldn’t get jealous?”

Oikawa scoffed, flipping his hand to his chest dramatically, “Me? Jealous? I would _never_.” After a pause, they both burst into laughter, Iwaizumi teasing him a bit more before they had to get back to work, the ringing of the bell above the studio door indicating a visitor. 

* * *

He hadn’t seen Sugawara that afternoon, or the following morning, apparently due to scheduling, so by the time lunch had finally rolled around, he had gotten so engrossed in his work, he almost missed the notification sound coming from his phone. Almost. Thankfully, he had the insight to change Sugawara’s ringtone so that he would _know_ when it was him, and not just a client. Reading the message for its contents quickly, he grabbed his coat off the back of his chair and called out that he was going on break before heading out the door, not waiting at all for a response. Oikawa headed toward the address sent to him, winding through the streets as fast as he could, bumping into someone only once until he found the location on his phone.

Entering the restaurant, he spotted Sugawara immediately, who perked up in his seat and waved him over. He mimicked his “good afternoon” sign as best as he could, which thankfully earned him a giggle from Sugawara. 

“No hearing aids today?” Oikawa asked, with a quick tap to his ears.

Sugawara shook his head, a notepad appearing from nowhere to quickly explain why. _“It’s typically too loud in here to wear them, but don’t worry, the owners know my order,”_ with a little smiley face written afterwards. Oikawa nodded in understanding as the other quickly scribbled something else down, before turning it back towards him. _“Though it is too bad I won’t get to hear your wonderful voice.”_

Oikawa spluttered for a bit, bringing up a hand to hide behind as blush rose to his cheeks. “You sly fox, you’re totally making fun of me right now aren’t you?”

The florist just laughed, waving over the waiter to take their order in lieu of answering his question, leaving Oikawa to quickly try and find something to eat… to which he failed. Perhaps, mistakenly, he told the waiter to give him the same thing Sugawara was getting, to which the waiter smirked and Sugawara made some muffled choking noise. Before he could rescind his statement however, the waiter was off to put in the order and his lunch date was already writing about what had happened.

_“Think that was a smart move?”_

“After both of your reactions? Mm, no, not feeling too confident.” Oikawa confessed, “But, I suppose I’m about to learn what your favorite food is, huh?” Sugawara nodded at that, a broad smile stretching across his face as they moved to discussing other topics. He learned that they had both participated in volleyball in high school, _and_ that they had both been setters. What were the chances of that? He’d have to tell Iwaizumi about it when he got back to the office for sure. 

When the food eventually arrived, the strong spices hit his nose as they were being sat down in front of them. At this, Sugawara had abandoned his notepad and was signing to the waiter, who, once the plates were settled against the table, signed back, and Oikawa couldn’t help but be slightly mesmerized by the exchange. After a bit, the waiter turned away from their silent conversation and wished them a good meal.

 _“He said that he reduced the spice levels on your curry cause he figured you panic-ordered.”_ Sugawara supplied after he had already shoved a mouth full of curry down.

“I did do that actually,” Oikawa confirmed, taking a test of his curry. It was delicious, and quite spicy indeed, but if that was the case… “Wait, how spicy is yours usually?” He inquired, curiosity getting the best of him. How could it get _hotter_ than how his was made?

Sugawara paused mid-bite to scribble down a quick word. _“Very.”_ Then he thought about it for a bit, fork still in the air as he wrote down something else. _“Would you like to try?”_

Oikawa blinked at that, and then shrugged. How spicy could it be?

* * *

The results of that lunch had been him being treated to milk bread after he failed at being able to handle Sugawara’s incredibly spicy mapo curry. He hadn’t been able to pass that restaurant for another week without feeling embarrassed, but during that time, Oikawa had started to figure out some basics of Japanese sign language. Things like “and you?” as an extended hand out in front of you, “thank you,” as one hand in front with a backwards chopping motion, and of course the greetings, yes, and no, etcetera. After about another week, Iwaizumi and Sugawara had the chance to meet, to which Iwaizumi exhibited that _he_ actually knew JSL, and then when asked about it, had responded with a “Like it’s hard?” to which Sugawara had given a very cute laugh.

Iwaizumi was right, he shouldn’t have let them meet as he was feeling _quite_ envious. Not that he’d admit that to either of them though. Especially since soon after he was begging Iwaizumi to help him learn JSL faster, to which his friend eventually relented.

Another week later, and his wonderful agent has somehow convinced Sugawara to photograph for them on a temporary basis, to which he was absolutely _ecstatic._ He _wanted_ to be upset that he wasn’t consulted on a team member choice, but his only thought at the moment was how to thank Iwaizumi for the decision later. Oikawa was a little nervous going into the shoot, which he wasn’t usually, but after one or two verbal jabs exchanged with Iwaizumi, he was able to find his flow again. Sugawara’s photography direction, despite there not being much spoken exchange, made for some great shots that Oikawa enjoyed posing for. Going over the photos near the end, a lot of them came out as ad-worthy even without any edits, and Iwaizumi was even more impressed than Oikawa found himself to be, going so far as to tip Sugawara on top of the day’s pay for helping with the shoot.

“So, it’s alright if he comes and helps out for other shoots, right?” Iwaizumi asked after Sugawara had left them with many thanks. Oikawa found himself nodding before his agent was even done speaking.

“Oh, definitely. Those photos were great.” 

“Right?”

Another week of prep, and he and Iwaizumi thought he was ready… though he did need to be encouraged a bit right beforehand as the trepidation made itself even more known.

“Oikawa, c’mon,” Iwaizumi prompted, standing next to his crouched form. “He’s not going to say no.”

“But what if he does?” Oikawa groaned, throwing his head into his arms. “What if he rejects me so hard that he doesn’t even want to be friends anymore? Or even business acquaintances? And we lose our photographer? And a friend!”

Iwaizumi sighed from above him, grumbling something under his breath that he couldn’t quite make out before kneeling down next to him. “I’m your friend, right?”

“Of course.” Oikawa found himself nodding, not sure where he was going with this.

“You trust me, right?”

“Of course!”

“Then trust me when I say that the way Sugawara-san looks at you, and especially after seeing you from behind the camera, he’s just as enamored as you are, so you have no need to worry about being rejected.”

“Really?” Oikawa asked hopefully, looking up into his friend’s face.

“Really.” Iwaizumi exhaled a bit, annoyed, though still smiling. “Now get in there before I push you in myself.”

He stood up, bobbed his head to his friend in confirmation, and went into the flower shop with confidence. Entering, he surveyed the store for the florist, to be immediately met with Sugawara’s gaze, who had happened to look up at the same time he came in. In that very instance, he almost lost everything he was gonna say just by looking at the florist in the soft glow of the sun.

“Oh! You’re here for the flowers, yes?” Sugawara managed to say aloud before Oikawa could do anything, and it was enough to snap him out of his daze. 

“Yes,” he signed and said at the same time, out of habit of practicing with Iwaizumi, to which Sugawara seemed to light up. 

_“You’ve been learning?”_ He signed excitedly as he headed around the counter and towards the back. 

“Oh, yeah, a little bit.” He signed back, still talking partially out of habit and also trying to recall which word comes next. “Did you choose some of your favorite flowers?”

 _“Yes! I picked out my favorite combination of flowers in the shop, I hope whoever this is going to… enjoys them.”_ The bitter-sweetness of the signs were palpable in the way his hands drooped near the end of the sentence, and it made Oikawa’s chest ache.

“I know they will.” Oikawa smiled as big as he could as he paid for the bouquet to hide how much what had just happened hurt him. It’d all change soon enough anyways. 

After the transaction was completed, he signed thanks before digging for something in his coat pockets. Finding what he was looking for, he put it into the bouquet and then did a little spin and handed it right back to the florist. _“Will you go out with me?”_ He signed, and watched blush bloom across Sugawara’s face in a way that was probably reflected in his own face. _“There’s a volleyball ticket in there for the game this weekend if you’d like to go with me.”_

 _“I would love to.”_ Sugawara signed back, tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he accepted the bouquet carefully, examining the ticket with gentle hands. _“Just… thank you so much.”_

Oikawa felt his heart stutter at the sight, his own tears coming up to his eyes in response as he could barely sign back to him, _“Anything for you.”_

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! It's my first time writing for this pairing and I've had such a blast with this event and the group that came together to put all these pieces together. So many thanks to the mods and I hope everyone that read this enjoyed reading it as much as I did creating it! Till next time~


End file.
